Burn with Me
by mscyanide
Summary: Sequel to Loopholes. Takes place in New Orleans. Pairings: Klaroline / Kennett / Kalijah / Steroline (friendship) - I may add another one later. Rated M for language and smut.
1. Chapter 1

**So I was having trouble finishing the next chapter of WoMD and there isn't a new chapter of "The Contract" or "Providence" to divert me, so decided to post this. **

****This is essentially my season six of TVD and I guess season one of TO. It will be based almost entirely in NOLA and follows directly after Loopholes. **This is just a short prologue, but should give you some idea of where I am headed. No real idea of how many chapters this will end up or how regularly I'll be able to post.**

**I still don't have a beta - no doubt in part because I haven't bothered to look for one - so please point out errors.**

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They came together for a single purpose: to reach into oblivion.

None among them sure such a feat was possible, none of them sure of much of anything except that not trying was so much worse than failing. They each of them had been reduced, withered and while it was not possible to restore what was so recklessly destroyed, they had it within them to pull from the depths of the abyss the little more than a handful of their brethren that they held bonded.

Before 'The Fall' - as the destruction of the Other Side was now referred – they would not have attempted it, none of them would have so much as contemplated such an Act even had they believed themselves capable. The practice of Expression itself was, whilst not expressly prohibited, certainly frowned upon.

And the spell? The thing that they referred to as the Act because none of them wanted to utter such things aloud?

It was most assuredly forbidden. It was in essence against the balance, and in the past it would have been harshly punished. Those that attempted such Acts would find the Spirits most unforgiving. Those that departed should remain so. Yet following, once the balance was obliterated, it did not seem so unthinkable. Their number and their strength had been so depleted that were they to fail to act they would most assuredly be consigned to a place as lowly in the peaking order as humans.

What could be worse than that? What consequences were there when the Spirits no longer existed? One might go so far as to consider it a natural product of The Fall. This is what they told themselves, none of them willing to voice such things, to share their doubts and concerns. What they were doing was against everything they believed in, but so disenchanted were they - so utterly bereaved and lost – that it seemed as though they were out of options.

Qetsiyah had betrayed them, the witch they had come to New Orleans in order to assist had cared for nothing excepting her own selfish agenda. The woman had done nothing to prevent Silas' act of destruction, she had even gone so far as to draw upon it to further her revenge. She had stood by whilst her sisters were diminished as though it didn't matter, as though they didn't matter. They were sure that there would come a reckoning for that, there had to be. Didn't there?

But whatever else the Betrayer had done she had granted them the means to commit the Act that before The Fall would have made them outcasts. It was Qetsiyah that had bonded each of the twelve to one of the more powerful witch ancestors – it was she who had explained how one might bring such a soul back among the living. And it was she who had advised them of what was to take place in New Orleans that very day.

The woman who betrayed them, used them and then once they were no longer of much use tossed them aside and moved on to their NOLA sisters and their Ancestral magic to continue her selfish campaign. That woman had given them an opportunity to undo just a little of the damage she had done – she had given them both the means and will to do it. It was her betrayal that now necessitated they do precisely what each of them would have scorned others for attempting.

They were going to bring them back, and then they together were going to restore the balance by the only means now possible.

They stood in a circle, hand in hand, doubts buried deep. Off in the distance a battle was taking place, once more there was a Supernatural bloodbath but this time they were in place to take advantage. This time they would not stand by whilst the heavens fell. This time they would Act.

Though the battle was some distance away they could feel the building power practically vibrating through their bones. None had ever felt such raw power before, none had ever attempted to tap into such a thing - opened themselves to the darkness. They were open now, but they did not reach for it yet, something within them told them it was not yet time.

It lapped at them, like gentle waves caressing the shore, inviting them to delve into the depths of its ocean. Yet they held back, not yet ready to dive in, standing upon the shore with just the tips of their toes within reach of the waves. It was not time.

Suddenly they felt the power withdraw, like the waters receding from the shoreline prior to a tsunami. There was a moment of panic that they all in their shared mind experienced, a dread that they had failed before they really began as they recognized what had happened. Another had drawn upon the power they needed, another had taken what they required. They were powerless to pull it back, to snatch it from that empowered grip, they knew and so they did nothing.

Made no attempt.

Waited.

The power increased tenfold, held within that other's grasp it was wielded with deadly intent. It grew and grew and then they sensed it move closer. Sensed _her _move closer to where they waited. There was a malice to the being that moved ever closer, it meant them harm – yet they were incapable of moving. Now their shared mind wondering if they were but waiting to die for they could not save themselves any more than those who perished in The Fall.

They were going to die.

It was certain.

The hand of death reached out.

And then that malicious will withdrew, spared them from judgment – how or why they did not know. What they did know was that the time had come. Together, perfectly in tune, they began and the power crashed into them with all the force of nature at her most vicious.

The twelve ceased to be, utterly consumed by the power they sought to tame until they were no more. In their place the twelve they carried breathed deep, taking a brief moment to rejoice in their return to the land of the living, before one amongst them broke the silence.

"What now Ayana?" she softly asked.

The woman turned to face her, her gaze a heavy weight, a judgment on her soul.

"Now we bring an end to the plague you unleashed upon the earth."


	2. Chapter 2a

**I've decided to post this even though it is not a full chapter, because I've rewritten this numerous times and had to recover it the other day having accidentally deleted it. I've decided that the second part of this chapter is from Caroline's POV, but that's about how far I've gotten on it. **

**I know I've been tragically slow in updating anything, but I will eventually finish all my stories. **

She entered the house in much the same as she had left it, feet first in the arms of another. Yet the two occasions could not have been more different. When she left Katherine was dying and unconscious; returning reanimated and never more awake. She didn't need Elijah to carry her, but he had insisted and she never did mind being wrapped in his arms.

And perhaps she wasn't exactly forthcoming as to her much improved state telling Elijah only that she was recovered, not that she had never felt stronger throughout the entirety of her existence.

Katherine had noted two things immediately upon entering the house, first that someone had cleaned up and second that Caroline was nearby. The first was hardly surprising, Klaus had always been both meticulous and an unscrupulous disciple of slave labour. That she could sense her new Sire's presence without the use of the traditional five senses was bordering on shocking. She'd been a vampire for 500 years, was quite used to the enhancements of such a state, but whatever she was now was something else entirely.

She knew that Caroline was not only close by but had shared the same space she now occupied less than three hours before. She knew that prior to Caroline's entrance Klaus had passed through. She knew that the two of them were now together in the dungeon two floors below, and that apart from those two and the three humans busy cleaning up the glass in the living room Elijah and her were alone.

What's more she didn't know exactly how she knew all this. She could not see the other occupants, could only hear the humans if she focussed and couldn't hear the dungeon occupants at all, she couldn't smell any of them though the scents of each lingered in the room Caroline's the freshest of the five. Katherine surmised that this sixth sense was likely no more than her brain interpreting information she had subconsciously imbued, but newly back from the dead it felt a little more like magic than anything logic could explain. Then again she didn't really need an concrete explanation as to why, it was enough to know that her powers of spatial awareness were now extraordinary.

"I'll take you to your room so you can rest," Elijah announced as he carried her to the stairs with the utmost care not to jostle her.

She thought she probably should advise him that she needed rest like desert dwellers needed more sand, but she didn't. 500 years with only ones self to rely upon did not beget openness, especially not with one of the many betrayers. She had no doubt that she loved Elijah, but she could only trust him so much. And though her heart wanted to alleviate all his worries for her safety her head held dominion. Katherine wasn't sure exactly what she was now capable of, but she knew that she was stronger than she had ever been as a vampire.

Was she stronger than Elijah? Probably not. But any uncertainty was dangerous.

Elijah was an Original, top of the food chain for a thousand years.

Just how would he view her transformation? Her possible elevation?

History had taught her he would take a dim view.

However much he claimed to love her, he had always - and probably always would - put his family first. A thousand years of "always and forever", no matter the loose interpretation his siblings applied to that familial motto would not be overwritten by such a fleeting emotion as romantic love. It was probably admirable to be that loyal, for that long, especially considering the degenerates that shared his blood, but Katherine considered it nothing but an inconvenience. Yet another obstacle she had to negotiate in her never ending battle to survive.

Elijah was not to be relied upon.

He had proven again and again that when it came down to it she was never first. He had been prepared to let Klaus kill her in order to break his curse, had stood silently by as his brother hunted her for having the audacity not to die for him, and when she was finally forgiven for her existence he chose to leave her for the empty promise of Klaus' redemption. Elijah would never put her first, never chose her, so why should she chose him?

She shouldn't, and she wouldn't. Katherine would chose herself and leave him free to chose his family without the burden of either feeling guilty.

And so she offered only a weak smile in response and went to bed like a good little minion, but she didn't sleep. She stayed awake and did what she did best, planned for the future. For the first time in her supernatural life she wasn't on the run or on the brink of death, but she still felt as though others were controlling her fate. To a degree she supposed that no matter ones position you would always have to compromise and bend to the will of others. No one was an island after all.

Katherine resolved then that she would aim to limit that degree of influence, the level of control others possessed, and for the very first time in her life she felt she might just be capable of achieving such a goal.

Caroline had given her much more than her life, she was sure, but what was still uncertain. It naturally followed then that her first order of business was to determine just what she was now capable of.

As it happens, opportunity knocked not four hours after Elijah left her to rest, when one of Klaus' hybrids arrived to tell her dinner was ready. She didn't wait on ceremony, she had him against the wall the moment he entered the room impressing herself with the ease with which she manhandled him. New he might have been, but Hybrids were usually strong from turning and he seemed no stronger than the average human in her sure grasp.

"You will not make a sound," she compelled, happy to note with the contraction of his pupils that she was now equal with the Originals on at least one front.


End file.
